I should also emphasise that "Anam" is specifically the animating force, so plants are "gan anam", although they are "beo", i.e. alive. There isn't really a native noun for "alive" in the general sense.

Although probably younger speakers would consider plants to have "Anam", I know one from Donegal who told me this specifically and I know a few native speakers who use "Anam" for Qi/Chi.

It could be correct, but if you review the definitions of saol in the FGB, its translation as “world” is limited, e.g. Chonaic sé an saol [“He has seen life (‘the world’)”], An saol a thréigean [“To forsake the (secular) world”].